Finding Federal and State Cases

University of Idaho
College of Law

Reporters

Court opinions, or cases, are published in books called reporters. Reporters are
sets of books collecting cases in chronological order.

1. Official and Unofficial Reporters

A. Reporters include official and unofficial versions.
B. The text of the opinion in official and unofficial reporters is identical.
C. Unofficial reporters include editorial additions to aid in research.
D. Official versions must be used for citations in court documents.
2. Jurisdiction Coverage
A. Some reporters limit opinions to a single jurisdiction or court.
B. Some reporters collect cases from multiple jurisdictions.
3. Examples
1. Single jurisdiction: Idaho Reports publishes cases from the Court of
Appeals and Supreme Court in Idaho only.
2. Multiple jurisdictions: the Pacific Reporter provides state cases from
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana,
Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Washington & Wyoming.

Citation Format

The basic citation format for all reporters includes the names of the parties to the
case followed by the volume number, abbreviated name of the reporter, page
number of the reporter in which the opinion is published and the year of the
decision. Jurisdiction information is added for the Federal Reporters and Federal
Supplements.

Example: Citation for U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education
Citation: Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

Names of Parties Volume Reporter Page Date

Brown v. Board of Education 347 U.S. 483 1954

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Supreme Court Reporters

1. Three reporters each publish all United States Supreme Court decisions:
A. United States Reports (U.S.)
B. Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct.)
C. United States Supreme Court Reports Lawyers’ Edition (L.Ed., L.Ed.2d)
2. Official Reporter
A. United State Reports (U.S. ) is the official reporter.
B. Six months to one year behind unofficial reporters in publication.
3. Unofficial Reporters (S.Ct.) and (L.Ed.)
A Use unofficial reporter if case not yet published in United States Reports.
B. Star pagination: page-break references to the page numbers for
the same text in the official reporters allows citation to U.S. Reports.
C. Star pagination available on Lexis and Westlaw.
4. Citation format includes parties, volume, reporter, page and year.
5. Example: see under Citation Format above.
6. Parallel citations
A. References to the same text in different reporters.
B. Supreme court cases are often cited in all three reporters.
7. Example:
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873 (1954).

Federal Reporter: Federal Courts of Appeal

1. Official Reporter
A. Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F.3d)
1. “F” series covers volumes 1-300 published from 1880-1924.
2. “F.2d” series covers volumes 1-999 published from 1924-1993.
3. “F.3d” series began in Fall, 1993 to current.
B. There is only one reporter for the Federal Courts of Appeals.
C. Reporter is official though not published by the government.
2. Jurisdiction Coverage
A. Federal Courts of Appeals are immediately below the Supreme Court.
B. Thirteen courts comprise the courts of appeal---eleven regional circuits,
the District of Columbia circuit and a federal circuit.
C. Approximately 60% of federal appellate decisions published.
3. Citation format includes parties, volume, reporter, page, circuit and date.
4. Example: Citation for Larson v. Saddens in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Larson v. Saddens, 808 F.2d 674 (5th Cir. 1986).

Names of Parties Volume Reporter Page Court Date

Larson v. Saddens 808 F.2d 674 5th Cir. 1986

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Federal Supplement: Federal District Courts

1. Official Reporter
A. Federal Supplement (F.Supp., F.Supp.2d).
1. 1880-1932 federal district court cases published in the Federal Reporter.
2. F.Supp. covers volumes 1-999 published from 1932-1998.
3. F.Supp. 2d starts with volume 1 and is published from 1998 to current.
B. There is only one reporter for the Federal District Courts.
C. Reporter is official though not published by the government.
D. Only 5-10% of district court cases published.
2. Jurisdiction Coverage
A. District courts are federal trial courts.
B. Smaller or less populated states have a single district i.e. District of Kansas.
C. Larger and more populated states have more than one district.
Examples: Central District of California (C.D. Cal.) and Northern District of
California (N.D. Cal.)
3. Citation format includes parties, volume, reporter, page, district and date.
4. Example: Citation for Arson v. Quench in the Federal District Court of Kansas.
Arson v. Quench, 808 F.Supp. 409 (D.Kan. 1976).

Names of Parties Volume Reporter Page Court Date

Arson v. Quench 808 F.Supp. 409 D.Kan. 1976

State Reporters

1. Official and Unofficial

A. Some states publish their cases in an official reporter.
B. Some states use the regional reporter in their jurisdiction as their official reporter.
C. Idaho’s official reporter is the Idaho Reports.
2. Jurisdiction Coverage: covers state appellate cases. .
3. Parallel Citations
A. State cases may also be cited to the Regional Reporter in their jurisdiction.
B. Regional Reporter for Idaho is the Pacific Reporter (P., P.2d, P.3d)
4. Example: Smith v. Lott, 73 Idaho 205, 249 P.2d 803 (1952).

Regional Reporter System

Regional reporters collect decisions from loosely connected groups of states.

Some states have designated the regional reporter as their official reporter. The

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table below lists the abbreviations of the regional reporters and the states
covered in each set:

Abbreviation Regional Reporter (States in Reporter)

P., P.2d, P.3d Pacific (AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, KS, MT, NV, NM,
OK, OR, UT, WA, WY)
S.W., S.W.2d South Western (AR, KY, MO, TN, TX)
A., A.2d Atlantic (CT, DE, ME, MD, NH, NJ, PA, RI, VT)
N.Y., N.Y.2d New York Supplement (NY)
S., S.2d Southern (AL, FL, LA, MS)
N.W., N.W.2d North Western (IA, MI, MN, NE, ND, SD, WI)
N.E., N.E.2d North Eastern (IL, IN, MA, NY, OH)
S.E., S.E.2d South Eastern (GA, NC, SC, VA, WV)

Finding Cases

Because cases are published chronologically in reporters, a finding aid is needed

to find cases on certain subjects. Listed below are finding aids for print and
electronic research.

1. Print finding aids

A. Finding a reporter name when you have a citation
1. Harvard Bluebook, A Uniform System of Citation
2. Lists reporter citations for all state, appellate, and supreme courts.
B. Finding cases on a subject
1. Use Descriptive Word Index for digests (see list of digests below).
2. Use Words & Phrases for digests (see list of digests below).
2. Use Key Number System
Find Key Number on identified topic from any West publication.
C. Finding citations when you have the names of the parties to a case.
1. Shepard’s Acts and Cases by Popular Name
2. Use Table of Cases volume for the digests (see list of digests below).
D. Digests
1. State and Regional Reporter digests
Law Library has digests for Pacific Reporter, ID, WA and CA.
2. American Digest System
A. Covers all reported decisions from state and federal courts.
B. Includes:
1. Century Digest 1658-1896
2. Decennial Digests 1896-present
a. separate series for each 10-year period to 1976.

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 b. separate series for each 5 years from 1976.
3. General Digests update the most recent Decennial Digests.
3. Federal Digests
A. Covers all reported federal cases.
B. Includes:
1. Federal Digest (1754 – 1938)
2. Modern Federal Practice Digest (1939-1960)
3. Federal Practice Digest 2d (1961-1975)
4. Federal Practice Digest 3d (1976-1989)
5. Federal Practice Digest 4th (1990-present)
4. U.S. Supreme Court Reports Digest
Covers U.S. Supreme Court cases only.
5. Bankruptcy Digest covers federal bankruptcy cases only.
2. Electronic Searching
A. Westlaw and Lexis (password only)
B. LexisNexis Academic (public access)
1. Search by keyword, citation, party name.
2. Narrow search by fields i.e. dates, Boolean operators, etc.

Websites

United States Supreme Court

www.supremecourtus.gov
The official Supreme Court website with decisions from the U.S. Reports from
1991, volume 502, to current.

PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records)

http://www.pacer.gov/
Fee-based Internet service for obtaining records for federal appellate, bankruptcy
and district courts cases.

Findlaw
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/
Full-text searchable database of U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1893 to
present, some federal courts of appeal and district court decisions from mid 90’s
and some state court decisions for all 50 states from mid 90’s.

Idaho Supreme Court and Court of Appeals

http://www.isc.idaho.gov
Browse or search Idaho appellate cases from 2006.

Updated January, 2012